Fast Track Earning Alaska Airlines Points with Betsey from @heralaskatravels | Ep 181
Vložit
- čas přidán 15. 07. 2024
- (Disclaimer: Click 'more' to see ad disclosure)
Geobreeze Travel is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as MileValue.com. This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more.
Today, I'm chatting with Betsey, a points enthusiast based in Alaska.
In this episode we discuss how Betsey has been able to take her daughter on dozens of flights, why she puts so much focus on the Alaska program and why it could be right for you, how grocery shopping at Safeway could earn you Alaska miles, and so much more!
If you are looking for a card that has points transferable to Alaska’s program, consider the Bilt Card.
➤ Check out the Bilt Card Here:
geobreezetravel.com/biltreferral
➤ Waitlist for The Points Accelerator: www.geobreezetravel.com/waitlist
If you are interested in supporting this show when you apply for your next card, check out geobreezetravel.com/cards and if you’re not sure what card is right for you, I offer free credit card consultations at geobreezetravel.com/consultat... !
Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
02:24 - Get to know Betsey
04:28 - Why Betsey was an unaccompanied minor at age 5
05:22 - Where Betsey is flying with Alaska
06:44 - Betsey's status with Alaska
07:08 - How she earns status
10:06 - What MVP level gets you and tricks to get it
11:41 - Best strategy to get status
13:32 - Opportunity costs with credit card spend
14:21 - Getting good redemptions with Alaska
15:05 - Using Safeway to earn fast with Alaska
20:45 - How much you need to spend with Safeway for 60k points
23:06 - Is Safeway bothered by this hack?
24:30 - Using different categories from Safeway redemptions
26:49 - How many Alaska miles Betsey has gotten from Safeway
28:50 - How to identify what to buy with Safeway
31:47 - Betsey's tips for Alaska travelers
33:49 - Shoutouts
34:59 - Outro
==
You can find Betsey at:
/ heralaskatravels
You can find Julia at:
➤ Free points 101 course (includes hotel upgrade email template):
www.geobreezetravel.com/freec...
➤ Instagram: / geobreezetravel
➤ Credit card links: geobreezetravel.com/cards
➤ Patreon: / posts
It's 100 points for 100 AS miles, 200 pts for 250, 300 pts for 400, 400 pts for 600, 500 pts for 850, 700 pts for 1300. You can only buy 1 each reward denomination per week. So that's 3500 miles for 2200 points per week. If GCs regularly earn 2x points, you'll need $19k spend to earn a 60k reward flight. A little less if you only redeem 700 pts at once.
The 8x or 10x point promotions reduces it to about $3-$4k spend. Less than that during the 3x reward earning weeks.
Also, unless you have their membership plan, points expire the month after they were earned.
thanks for this clarification!
Love Alaska Airlines, Thanks for these great tips
anytime! glad you enjoyed!
Great tips I’ve never heard about. Thanks Julia!
anytime! thank you for tuning in every week!
Just got my Alaska card so perfect timing with some great tips!
yay!! So many great sweet spots with Alaska!
FYI, two corrections: million milers get 20,000 EQMs per year (not 40,000). Two million milers get 40,000 EQMs per year. The EQMs are not spendable miles but help with your status (not mentioned).
The credit card spend bonus is 4,000 (not 2,000) EQMs per $10,000 spent. Although not mentioned one way or the other the bonuses are thresholds and not pro-rated, so for example if you spend $9,000 you get zero; if you spend $10,000 then you get 4000 EQMs.
Thank you!!
It was 2k miles per $10k spend across all your cobranded cards _last year_ (including biz cards), and Alaska doubled the earning to 4k for the same spend for 2024.
(Love this! I'll be maxing this out this year.)
Thank you!! I believe that the article I read was wrong, I noticed this after we filmed, glad we cleared this one up too.
This is so cool. Great content.
thank you! glad you enjoyed!
Thanks for posting this useful video. Thank you also for covering Alaska Airlines with frequency; it's often overlooked and is a great value airline.
For sure! I think a lot of people don't cover Alaska since it's not a major transfer partner with credit cards that pay out a lot of commissions to influencers and bloggers, but it's a fantastic program for maximizing points!
Thanks for this
anytime! glad you enjoyed it!
Thank you so much good information. I just made my safeway points to transfer to Alaska about two days ago. Do you know how long it takes to show Alaska mails on my account. Thank you again
sorry just now saw this comment. did the points transfer over?
I’m not finding where to add my AA on the Safeway app. Online said only for Alaska residents?
are you using the CARRS app as well?
We don't have Safeways around here (MA), but on the Safeway site when searching for the nearest location, Shaws groceries show up. Would the partnership apply here with Shaws as well, or is it only Safeways (and Albertsons)?
I'm doubtful that would work. If you want to try, go small first with a test of $10 or so
Long Island!!!
yup! Points definitely come in handy for that one!
I've downloaded the CARRS app, connected it to my Safeway/Vons account. Now I'm trying to see where I connect my Alaska Miles account. Any info you can share on where this is done?
It seems that if you have an existing Safeway/Vons account, the CARRS app would always revert to Safeway/Vons because it's connected to your phone number. Youl would need to have started with a CARRS account, which you will then be able to use at any Albertsons group grocery. It seems like to be able to do this, you would have to either delte you Safeway/Vons account so that you can use your phone number to create a new CARRS account, or if you have another phone number, create a new CARRS account with that. I've been trying to do this with my ACME Markets account (another Albertson group). I'll use my husbands number instead since it's not connected to any of the other Albertson groceries.
@@loloi Thank you! I'll give it a shot!
@@tonymnla I'll try it myself too. I stilll have rewards with my current ACME markets account so I'll try the switch as soon as I redeem them.
Just found out you have to put in an Alaska zip code for the option to show up
@@ellenmcgregor6258 in CARRS app or in Safeway app?
Appreciate the content, but the Safeway points to Alaska miles conversion is way off and needs correction! Like some people posted, it's 100 points for 100 AS miles, 200 pts for 250, 300 pts for 400, 400 pts for 600, 500 pts for 850, 700 pts for 1300.
You’re right + I’m glad you pointed that out. First time ever on a podcast + I was a bit nervous 😂
Thanks for clearing it up though!
@@Heralaskatravels Maybe you should be on more often :) great tips for Alaska miles!
thank you for the update
@@Heralaskatravels Thanks so much! I’ve been trying to do the various 4x and 5x on gift cards, first two times worked with scanning my app barcode but third time using phone number at register it didn’t work and had to call CS and took a while but finally they manually credited me the missing points.
Is there a way to tell which clipped coupons have actually been redeemed? This is my issue; or can they keep being used over and over until expiration date? I still feel a bit skittish putting so much spend buying gift cards if it’ll mean phone calls! But what a great hack thanks again for sharing!
Can the Alaska miles earned via Safeway go towards status?
no, Alaska status requires you to physically fly. More info on how to get Alaska status in this episode: czcams.com/video/1Vrbcc6jFWc/video.html
does anyone know if KINGs would work for the safeway trick ? i cant find any safeway/albertson in NY
I am not sure about this one, I’ve only used this at Safeway stores
I doubt it would work at other non-affiliated grocery chains
Does Visa Gift Cards get 1 point like all regular items or are no points given for purchasing them?
depends on what card you're using to purchase them. If you're using a Chase Freedom Flex that gets 5x at grocery stores this quarter, you'll earn 5x points for purchasing gift cards at a grocery store.
@@geobreezetravel Sorry I meant does it generate Safeway points?
Does this work for AA Business? Thanks
it does not, unfortunately
Does it work with Albertsons since they own Safeway?
Seems you have to have an Alaskan address to do this.
@@stevenbutler48 It looke like you just need a fresh CARRS account. I have been able to use my local ACME markets (another Albertsons supermarket) at other Albertsons supermarkets, and the rewards went to my ACME markets' reward structure. If you already have an Albertsoons account, CARRS would default tothat.
So I think someone like us would either have to sign up for a fresh CARRS account with a different phone number, or delete our current accounts. The phone number is the key. They always ask for your phone number, and they to default to the supermarket program your phone number is associate with. I still have some rewards to use on my current account, but will delete it and sign up for CARRS when I've used them up.
@@stevenbutler48 turn off location permission for the app
It works for Vons, so I don’t see why it wouldn’t work for Albertsons as well.
Yes it does. Rewards points would be in the same pool. I shop both places using same phone number (linked to my account) when checkout.
Note: I’ve never registered account with Albertsons, only registered once with safeway many years ago. Yeah it does automatically work at Albertsons.
15:19 thanks! I’ll have to try this out. Any way to buy digital gift cards?
Not that I know of! Definitely haven’t seen them in the Safeway app.
from what I've read, this only works for physical gift cards
Thanks guys! I’m just worried with the gift card scams but I’ll give it a try 👍
You too let’s people know Alaska resident only
there were some ways that people outside of Alaska were able to use this as well, but it sounds like a lot of those methods aren't working as well anymore, unfortunately
How many miles for 1 reward? 100 or 300?
100 points for 100 AS miles, 200 pts for 250, 300 pts for 400, 400 pts for 600, 500 pts for 850, 700 pts for 1300
Just as Jason said it, I did mess up in the video above (I was nervous 😅) but do have all this info on my social medias and guides!
The best redemption is the 700 points from 1300 miles 😎
Thank you Jason and Betsey for answering this one!
Julia what about folks getting their accounts shut down. Seen a lot of comments about this on Frequent Miler.
I always recommend testing a small amount first, but also been hearing they're getting stricter
Bummer this is only available if you live in Alaska
It's intended for Alaska residents, but you can get around it using the app process mentioned in the episode
@@geobreezetravel It seems that if you have an existing account with an Albertsons group supermarket, the CARRS app would always revert to that because it's connected to your phone number.
You would need to have started with a CARRS account, which you will then be able to use at any Albertsons group grocery. It seems like to be able to do this, you would have to either delete your current supermarket account so that you can use your phone number to create a new CARRS account, or if you have another phone number, create a new CARRS account with that. It looks like an Alaska address is not needed. You can't just sign up with email either, at some point they will always ask for your phone number.
Turn off location permission for the app and it will work without asking you for an address. It seems that you also need to create a Carrs account with a phone number or email address that’s not already associated with any Albertsons group supermarket. If you don’t have any other phone/email, you might need to delete your existing Albertsons supermarket account first.
@@loloi I feel as though there should be a video on just how to configure CARRS to work anywhere.
@@tonymnla yeah, I spent a good portion of my day figuring it out, but I think I got it.